Shade
by FranziskavonKarmaWhippedYou
Summary: When Layton meets a strange girl soaked in blood, he doesn't count on her coming to haunt everyone close to him. And there is something very, very wrong with her. Can he find out before she kills everyone he loves? Luke/OC
1. The Bloody Girl

Layton had never seen anything like it before.

The girl was standing over the body, the knife tightly clutched in her hand. She was bleeding badly from her wrists and Layton could hear her making an effort to stifle the noise of her sobs.

"I'm... not..." she whispered. Her voice was light but laced with malice and hatred. "I'm... not... mother..." Before Layton could even register anything, the girl turned the knife on herself and drove it right through her palm. Layton gasped, but she showed no sign of pain or discomfort. She pulled out the knife and the wound began to heal up instantly, far too quickly and in an inhuman way.

"Mr Layton, there is nothing to see here," she said coolly. Layton stiffened - how did she know his name and that he was there? "But if you want a memento of your time watching me from behind, here." She turned around and held out a small gem. Layton was surprised by the girl's face - the irises in her eyes were pitch black and her mouth was curled into a thin smile. She seemed to possess more adult qualities than not. "Take it. It's not mine, anyway."

Layton took the gem. When he first touched it, it burned his fingers, but he could touch it again without bother. The girl tilted her head back, staring up at the sky. "If that's all you want from me, I'll be going now." When her head moved back down, her irises were violet. She smiled and spun round, kicking the body into the shadows and tightening her grip on the knife before strolling off. Layton knew she was a problematic child, just from that glance. There was something abnormal about her.

Something beyond his comprehension.

* * *

Clive was glad to be out of prison. He'd heard of prisoners counting the days - he hadn't. Screw hope. He let the days blur into a haze. Fresh air was amazing. He'd only had short periods of time outside while in the prison, most of which he had spent on a swing that creaked every time it swung and nobody dared properly swing. People just sat and lightly rocked themselves back and forth. It was a good place to reflect, if you hadn't been doing that already.

And Clive was determined he was never going back to that hellish place. So when he found a ten-year-old girl sitting in a triangle formed by three dead bodies, he thought he should keep his distance and call the police. Except he'd gotten too close and the girl had lunged forwards, ripping open his pocket and grabbing his phone, crushing it in a matter of seconds.

"What's the plan now, Dove?" she asked, her high-pitched voice sending chills up Clive's spine. Not to mention her red irises. They were creepy as hell, but they didn't seem to be coloured contacts. "I'll let you go if you do me a favour."

"What?" Clive asked. He couldn't move. He was stuck in place.

"Hmm... take this and keep it," the girl said, holding out her hand. There was a small gem in it. "You can take it, you can move enough for that." Clive reached out and took the gem, which slightly burned his fingers at first but it calmed. He stuck it in his intact pocket and found himself able to move, at which point he ran for a telephone booth, which exploded.

Clive looked over his shoulder. The girl wasn't there, but he could feel her smile burning right through him.

* * *

"Okay, class," Mrs Wilson said cheerfully. "Today, we've got a brand new student. I want you all to be very nice to Shade." Shade was a girl with short stature, her violet eyes giving off the impression that she was bored, as did her slouched posture. "Go and sit next to Luke." Mrs Wilson pointed, though Shade knew who he was without her assistance. She stalked through the rows before perching herself on the chair next to Luke.

"Hello," Luke said cheerfully. He was always happy to see people, and he couldn't sense the malevolent aura coming from Shade. She smiled back.

"Hi," she replied. "What are we studying?"

"Um... algebra," Luke replied. Shade's smile widened.

"My favourite subject!" she said happily.

After the school day had ended, Luke and Shade were nothing short of best friends, though none of Luke's other friends seemed to like her at all. Luke couldn't understand why.

"Would you like to come and stay over?" Luke asked. "Oh, your parents..."

"Don't live in London," Shade replied. "At the moment. They've left to do... whatever they do, so I live alone. They don't care what I do, anyway." Luke nodded. "I'd love to come over."

When Luke got back to Layton's, Clive was sitting in the kitchen and Flora was still upstairs, caught out by a nasty cold. Clive glared at Shade, who smiled sweetly back and followed Luke upstairs.

Luke was completely taken aback when Shade locked the door to his room and pinned him to the wall and he thought his eyes would pop out of his head when she kissed him. It wasn't light, either: she was passionate and lustful, and Luke couldn't even stop himself from relaxing. He couldn't yell when Shade grabbed his baseball bat, because her lips were still on his and he couldn't shove her away, even as she beat in his head.

Clive glared at Shade when she came downstairs. "What did you do this time?" he asked sharply.

"You might want to phone an ambulance," Shade said and yelped as Clive shot forwards, grabbing her collar and slamming her forcefully against the wall. Somehow, he managed to produce a length of rope and tie her up. Shade screamed for a while until Clive gagged her as well. Screw no more crimes - who knew what Shade had done?

Clive hurried upstairs and stared at the entrance to Luke's room. Blood covered the floor and there was a bloody baseball bat lying around. Clive didn't go inside and phoned the police and an ambulance, but by the time he made it downstairs, Shade was gone.

He could still feel her grinning.


	2. Shame

"Shinigami!" The nurse's voice was loud and Clive stared out the small window in Luke's hospital room. A tall and handsome blonde-haired male nurse was striding down the hallway, after someone Clive couldn't see. He sighed and looked at Luke - the boy was lucky he was even alive. Shade's skill at beating in his head was unmatched.

Next thing Clive knew, the nurse and Shade bundled in. Shade looked defeated and small. "But Gabriel," she whined. "Whyyyy?"

"Just because your parents aren't here doesn't mean you can go insane. I'll take care of you and make sure this doesn't happen again," the nurse, Gabriel, said sharply. Shade rolled her eyes and smiled sweetly at Clive before calmly strolling to Luke's bedside. Clive looked at Gabriel, who had no aura of malice. He was watching Shade warily, tensed and ready to move.

Shade leaned down and gently kissed Luke, and Clive was startled when she cupped his face in her hands and kissed him more passionately than he knew a ten-year-old could. Luke's eyes snapped open and he flailed, but Shade kept it up and Gabriel didn't move until Shade threw herself backwards, stumbling and nearly falling.

"UGH," Shade groaned, wiping her mouth. "It hurts." Gabriel placed his hand on her shoulder.

"Yes, but your friend here is alive and well now," Gabriel said lightly. "Come, Shinigami. I fear what you will do if I leave you for a second."

"Wait," Shade said sharply. "Clive. Tomorrow at three o' clock in the afternoon, don't leave the house. Bolt the doors, lock the windows. Don't let anyone in, no matter who they are." Her irises amazingly changed colour to white, and Shade looked ill.

"Do what she says," Gabriel warned. "If not, there is a high chance you will die. Oh, and if you need us, she lives here. I don't, but I'm staying here for the time being." Gabriel handed Clive a scrap of paper with an address on it before leaving, Shade following him.

"She's a good kisser," Luke blurted, and instantly regretted it.

* * *

"Why did you DO that?" Shade yelled at Gabriel, who seemed to ignore her as he popped his head into the room of a comatose patient and spoke to the patient's girlfriend. "I'm a sadist, Gabriel! Healing someone makes me sick!"

"If you feel the need to throw up because you saved a boy's life, the toilets are just up ahead," Gabriel replied coolly. "I do have a question, though. There was no need to kiss him that passionately. He's comatose, not dead."

Shade rubbed the back of her neck. "Uhh." Gabriel smirked.

"You like him!" he declared, patting her on the back when Shade's cheeks flushed bright red. "Maybe you should try not to show your affection by beating his brains out. You may be sadistic, but he isn't."

Shade sighed. "I know that, but I can't stop myself."

"Very well, I'm doubling your medication intake," Gabriel replied. "If it's only getting worse, we might have to take some drastic measures." Shade whined pitifully and sighed.

"I want to see him again, though," she said, glancing over her shoulder. She'd gone too far to see him.

"Try not to do what your mother does by sneaking into his room in the middle of the night," Gabriel replied, ruffling her hair. It almost seemed as if he was her father, but the two were completely unrelated. "Try visiting him after tomorrow. He might appreciate you then."

* * *

Gabriel hummed to himself as he finished the paperwork to discharge Luke. He headed to Luke's room to deliver the good news, where Clive and Luke were discussing Shade.

"Gabriel, why is she so strange?" Luke asked.

"Shade is a sociopath, a sadist and a prodigy," Gabriel said softly. "She's trying to defy her own nature while studying for her exams, and she's not doing well. She wants to be your friend, but she doesn't know how to handle people and her sadistic nature is beginning to take over."

"Is that why she hit me with a baseball bat?" Luke asked. Gabriel chuckled.

"Yes," he replied. "She has... difficulties. Her parents aren't exactly giving her the best genes in the world, or much help. It's really up to me, to be honest. Don't get too mad at her for beating you up. It's the kind of thing she likes to do, sadly. It's not her fault, either. By the way, Luke, you can officially go. And one last thing... I think you can help her, Luke. She has two friends right now, neither of which she sees daily. Having friendships helps her, a lot."

Gabriel removed the band from Luke's arm and left the room. Luke watched him leave happily. Gabriel was the best nurse he could've asked for.

Shade was waiting for Gabriel. "Hi," she mumbled. "Can we go now?"

"I have another shift. You can go home," he said. Shade nodded and stood up, trailing down the corridor. There was no sign of Luke or Clive, and she left disappointed.

* * *

Gabriel found Shade several hours later cradling a severed head in her arms. He sighed. "You can't do this anymore," he whispered as he lifted her to her feet. He groaned as Shade spotted someone a distance away and pulled a knife out of her pocket, throwing it right at the person, who was killed instantly.

"You can't keep killing like this," Gabriel said, taking her home without another accident. He had very little sleep, though he spent most of his time in the spare bedroom, one ear always open for Shade. He was fast asleep when she sneaked out to Layton's apartment and broke into Flora's room. Shade disemboweled Flora and was interrupted when Luke walked in and caught her, quite literally red handed. The sight of his shock, anger and sorrow had Shade in tears.

Luke didn't know whether to blame her or not. He could hardly shout at Shade when she was so sad. She looked... regretful. But she was repeating something, over and over:

"I am not her."


End file.
